Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Unfortunately, if you see a creeper swelling like a balloon (something it does just prior to
exploding), it's probably already too late.
Try to ensure that you are not fighting the creeper near an important structure. Just about
theworstsituationoccurswhensteppingoutthefrontdoor,straightintoone.You'llendup
with a crater where the front of your house used to stand. As one of the memes on the web
reads, “I just undid in 2 seconds what you spent 5 hours building.” You are generally safe
if you can keep a distance of a few blocks, but they move quite fast.
Creepers do have an Achilles heel. If you find one swimming in water, you can easily deal
withitbyattackingfrombelow.Creepersarealsoscaredofocelots,ortheirtamedversion,
the humble cat (see
Chapter 7
,
“
Farming and Taming Mobs
”
).
As with most mobs in Minecraft, creepers can seem somewhat formidable at first, but with
a little practice you'll find you can dispatch them fairly easily.
Creepers drop gunpowder, a key ingredient in crafting TNT blocks and making throwable
“splash” potions described in
Chapter 10
.
Slimes
Slimes aren't too common because they generally spawn in swamps, and far less regularly
in other underground areas. But because of this, slimes can ooze up far from a swamp bio-
me and spawn in any light level.
If any mob needs frenetic clicking, it's a slime. That's because each large one splits into up
to 4 smaller ones and up to 16 tiny ones (see
Figure 5.6
). The tiny ones don't do damage
but can be annoying as they swarm you.Just click and click and click until you've finished
them all, and switch to your fists to finish off the tiny ones. All it takes is one blow, and
this will save durability on your sword.
